The Dark Things

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night a candle burned in the window. Grandad had always said that cabin was where the dark things dwelt. His warning, should I ever see that candle, had been just one word. Run!

Yet there I stood. My four friends from uni, Samantha, Tom, Steve and of course Ali, she was the whole reason I was there. Though not for support but rather to make sure I carried out the dare. I swallowed the fear caught in the back of my throat as we took a few steps closer. I stopped. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I stared at the flickering light.

“Come on, don’t be superstitious. You're a damn atheist,” I thought, as my heartbeat pounded in my ears.

“Getting scared John-o?” Shouted Steve with a snicker.

“Hm,” I chuckled. “That’s cute, you know what I think of the supernatural mate.”

“Well isn’t your catchphrase,-” Samantha began

“-Certainty exists in the mind, go check,” Everyone sang in unison.

“I know, I know,” I replied.

“Still I gotta admit it is spooky,” Samantha admitted.

“Though it’s probably just because the forest around it is dead.” She added shrugging

“Well, I guess we’ll see how brave you are when you blow out the candle,” Tom prodded.

“I’m sure we will, he knows I find bravery sexy,” Ali said with an air of seduction.

“Well, that’s all the encouragement I need,” I thought.

“Just remember to wear something nice when I take you out,” I joked.

“I know. That was the deal,” Ali replied.

I walked up the steps toward the door but at that moment Samantha let out a blood-curdling scream. I spun around to see everyone stifling their laughter.

“Again, that’s cute,” I called out.

I could hear them talking as I turned back. I was about to go inside when I heard Tom.

“Nice work Samantha, you too Steve, the candle looks just old enough to be menacing,” Tom Said in the distance.

“I didn’t do it,” Steve replied.

I glanced back to see everyone shaking their heads and shrugging.

“Right, that old cliche,” I called out.

“Seriously dude it wasn’t me,” Steve called out.

“Maybe a crackhead is living there,” Samantha speculated from the distance as I ascended the stairs.

“This whole thing is cliche,” I thought confidently as I approached the door.

“Be careful,” Ali shouted. “I can’t date you if a junky gets you.”

“So why did you agree to date him?” Samantha asked Ali.

“He’s smart, I find that sexy-” Ali replied.

“But she wants someone As brave as she is. So I thought this up,” Steve interjected.

“You know I can still hear you, right?” I called out, not looking back.

“Isn’t that okay?” Tom jested.

“Of course. I like being called sexy,” I exclaimed as I opened the door.

I entered the cabin clutching my Maglite in expectation of some crackhead jumping out. However, to my relief the rundown cabin showed no sign of life; just a foul odour I didn’t recognise. Looking around at the paintless walls and worn-out floorboards, I entered the room directly to my right which had long ago been the kitchen. I was walking to the windowsill where the candle rested when my foot went through the floorboard. Instantaneously there was a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder. Nevertheless, after recovering my footing I cautiously proceeded to the window. I peered out, scanning the clearing with torchlight but couldn’t see my friends. I chuckled. They were clearly messing with me again. I blew out the candle.

My torch flickered as I turned around and for a moment I gazed at something not of this world. The hooded figure with a face shrouded in black smoke, yet two glowing yellow eyes. It howled at me like a typhoon as the rain pelted down. I raised the heavy metal torch as the thing flew towards me. I swung hard and true but my improvised weapon passed through its head, as the creature passed through me an instant later. I felt something cold and menacing brush past my heart like the stroke of an unwelcome hand.

As I raced toward the kitchen door a sea of snakes slithered from every crack in the room. Several struck me as I trod on them trying to escape. Alas! That was the least of my worries. As the floorboards gave way.

I fell for what seemed like an eternity before Being plunged into dark water that smelled of the ocean. Sinking further into the abyss I did my best to hold my breath until I couldn’t. I was consumed by a feeling of dreed.

“This is it!” I thought as I let bubbles escape my mouth and drew in what I expected to be water.

It wasn’t. I was relieved not to be drowning but I feared for the worst was yet to come as my torchlight revealed the ocean floor was rapidly coming into sight.

I touched down on the seabed and it began to rise around me forming sand golems. I turned and ran, bobbing and weaving between the towering figures. Clutching my torch I ran, eyes closed for a moment to allow my mind some peace, as the golems pursued.

When I reopened my eyes I found myself in a forest running along a bloody path. Surrounded by pink and purple trees, the path screamed with every step I took. Then the trees began to sing. God, I hoped it was the trees.

“The candle! The candle! Why were you mean to the candle?” They chanted.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it,” I cried.

“How dare you raise your voice in someone’s home,” Spoke a chilling, distorted voice.

I stopped dead in my tracks. As I turned and saw the hooded figure once again, I realised I was back in the kitchen. However, it was surreal. The walls were painted pink, the ceiling and floor purple. Garish colours the cabin likely never had. The hooded figure gestured to the door and I followed it to the living room.

It sat down in a leather armchair and poured two cups of tea, grasping the pot with hands made of black smoke. I took a seat across from it and picked up the cup I had assumed was for me as the figure sipped its own. I took a sip.

“Did I say that was for you?” The hooded figure snarled.

“Sorry,” I blurted as I lowered the cup hastily.

“I doubt your friends would appreciate you drinking their blood,” The hooded figure stated.

I looked over as blood dripped from the smoke concealing what was probably a menacing grin.

I quickly looked down. The tea had turned red. I screamed as I dropped the cup and sprung from my seat. I wiped my mouth leaving blood on my sleeve. I looked up and saw my friends melting out of the walls, floor and ceiling. Their bodies were stained pink or purple as they crawled unnaturally across the surfaces. Yet the blood from their numerous wounds was that unmistakable red. It flowed through the air, across the room and into the cup I had dropped standing it back up.

“It’s your fault,” They wailed.

“I thought you were smart,” Steve groaned.

“How dare you drink our blood after getting us killed,” Samantha shrieked.

“I’m sorry,” I cried as I threw up on the coffee table.

From the blood rose a crimson knight. It stabbed me in the stomach with its blood sword. I felt the pain, excruciating pain. Then as if all that they were was being drained, my friends deflated as blood flowed from them turning them pale. As the blood passed through the knight’s sword and into my stomach the knight also deflated. I felt sick again as the last of the blood entered my body and sealed the wound. I threw up on myself as I ran out of the cabin and into the pink and purple forest beneath the pitch-black sky.

“It’s useless to run,” whispered the hooded figure as if in my head.

“What are you?” I bellowed as I ran down the screaming blood path.

“I am a shinigami, a god of death” It bellowed from what seemed like every direction.

I’d seen enough anime to know this wasn’t good and my nightmare was far from over. I tripped as one of the tree’s purple roots wrapped around my leg. The shinigami floated out from behind the tree nearest me followed by three hideous monsters partially shrouded in the same dark mist as the shinigami.

“What do you want?” I shouted.

The shinigami threw a sword at my feet.

“Find your mettle and kill my playthings first,” it began. “Then I’ll know.”

Fearing for my life, I picked up the sword, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I opened my eyes and they glared with resolve as strong as the steel in my hands. One of the monsters, the one that looked strangely humanoid, charged at me. I was surprised at how easily my sword cut off its arm. I turned as it wailed with a distorted voice. I finished it quickly. Swinging my sword diagonally, I cleaved the horrendous beast in two. The next, a ferocious beast on all fours, tackled me to the ground. It bit into my left shoulder as I plunged my sword into its heart. It slumped on me. I rolled it over and rose to my feet as the bird-like creature took a swing at me. I managed to duck, side step and decapitate it. Its head rolled across the ground as the mist thinned and revealed Tom’s distorted face. I looked at the other monster corpses to have my fears confirmed, Samantha and Steve’s faces stretched across beastly skulls. Yet there was no mistaking it. It was them I’d just killed.

Distraught I turned to the shinigami whose eyes had turned pink. Joyously it rested its smoky head in its hands. It danced around.

“Superb. Splendid. Marvellous!” The shinigami said with a distorted yet unmistakably gleeful voice.

“No!” I cried out in anger.

“Such fervour you showed as you cut your friends down,” it exclaimed as it floated around.

“You tricked me!” I shouted as I pointed my sword at it.

“Good! That’s the courage you showed when you tried to hit me with the torch,” the shinigami said excitedly

“No more games, where’s Ali?” I shouted menacingly about to lose my last nerve.

“Oh? You want to know?” It asked.

“Of course I do!” I shouted.

“She may not be as you expect,” it taunted.

“Then I’ll make you pay” I growled.

“I’ve waited so long for this. I can’t believe the day has finally come,” said the shinigami, ignoring me.

“Hey!” I shouted, taking a step closer.

“Relax, I wouldn’t hurt my best bargaining chip,” it said as if I was the one being unreasonable. “Tell you what I’ll make you a deal.”

Without lowering my sword I responded. “Let’s hear it.”

“Du hast mich,” it said floating back and forth.

“Ja, I hate you,” I said beyond aggravated.

“One ‘s’ Darling,” the shinigami prodded teasingly.

“What?” I exclaimed.

“That’s the deal, will you until death us sever?” It continued.

“You’re kidding,” I spat.

“Oh, I mean it! Rest assured, if you marry me and become a shinigami too, I’ll restore your friends,” it whispered trying to entice me.

I paused and lowered my sword a little as I thought.

“Of course, they can never go back to being human but they’ll be alive,” it added.

“What kind of deal is that? Fix them!” I shouted.

“Sorry, no can do,” It said with little sympathy. “I’m a god of death, not creation.”

“What’s option two then?” I asked, furious.

“Kill me!” It said calmly. “Either way you’ll see your precious Ali again.”

That was all I needed. Without a second thought, I drove my sword through its heart. It reached out and caressed my face with one hand.

“At least I was killed by,” the shinigami said as the distortion in its voice faded and the haze thinned.

“The man I loved,” spoke Ali’s voice as her face was unveiled by the receding black smoke.

“What? Why?” I exclaimed as the real world returned.

I didn’t look around at my friends' contorted, mangled corpses. I just stared into Ali’s eyes as she bled.

“I wanted to know you could love me knowing what I really was,” she uttered softly.

“Then why didn’t you show me your face?” I choked, tears welling up in my eyes.

“Because this is what I really am, I’m a monster, I never deserved you,” she whimpered. “Even dying by your hand is too good for me.”

“Make me a shinigami! Give me the power to save you, damn it,” I wailed.

“Sorry darling, I’m already too weak. I only have a little power left,” she said.

She smiled as she waved her hand causing the bodies to vanish and my clothes to return to normal. A moment later she vanished and my sword, clean of any blood, fell to the ground. I cried for a while but eventually, I picked up the sword and drove it into the ground where she had lain moments before. I left the forest a broken and conflicted man never to return.

***

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